A Diamond in the Ruff
by captainrogers
Summary: Blossom knows how terrible it must look to be pining after one guy while dating another. She shouldn't even be entertaining the idea of Brick Jojo when she was already with someone. But the more time she spends around him, the harder it seems to become to resist the temptation of falling for him. They were counterparts, two sides of the same coin, some may even say soulmates. REDS.
1. Chapter 1

**Hello! I'm back with a new RRBxPPG fanfic! It's been a long time since I've written one and wow my writing style has changed a lot. I leave the others up, but I beg you not to read them, oh my gosh I was so young and just not as developed as a writer. Regardless, I've gotten back into PPG fanfics and decided to revive my love. Hopefully I can keep up with this one. Thank you for reading and giving it a chance, happy reading and remember to review! xoxo**

 **LOCATION: THE CITY OF TOWNSVILLE.**

 **TIME: 8:25 PM**

 **Blossom's POV**

You know that feeling you get in your stomach when you know something is wrong? It's almost like your body telling you that whatever you're doing isn't right. And I'm not talking about morally right or anything, I mean I'm a Powerpuff for goodness sake; not to sound arrogant or anything but it's pretty hard to do anything wrong when you have a title like that. No, I mean that feeling you get when you know your life just isn't going the way you want it to and yet you're not doing anything to change it. I have no idea if that makes any sense, but regardless, that's how I feel.

 _Please call me with an excuse to leave. xx_

I felt bad just typing the message out, but I couldn't stay here any longer. I knew I was leading him on, but it was so hard to end it. It's not like he was a terrible guy, in fact he would probably be considered overall a great boyfriend…to anyone else. Dating him was so simple. He agreed with everything that I said, he laughed at all my jokes, he did everything a good boyfriend should do. Unfortunately though, I had come to terms just this week with why I hated all of this so much. He was _boring._ Dating him wasn't any fun, he didn't challenge me like I wanted. All he would talk about was science and math and his new inventions, and on top of that all we ever did was stuff that _he_ liked, I felt like I was _in_ the relationship but not an actual _part_ of it. He would buy me gifts, and no matter how selfish and rude it sounds, I hated all of them, they weren't at all sentimental. We'd go out to dinner to the same place where he would order the same thing for himself _and_ _me_. I knew exactly what he was going to say before he even said it.

 _Blossom, are you paying attention to anything I'm saying, darling?_

"Blossom, are paying attention to anything I'm saying, darling?"

See what I mean?

There were times where I honestly _wished_ he would do something even minorly stupid so that it would give me an excuse to tell him I wanted space. Because if I had to listen to him drone on about the pre-molecular qualities of the ionic whatever the fuck, if I had to sit through another lecture by a renowned nuclear physicist because he found it just _so_ interesting, if I had to make do with the mediocre and not at all passionate intimate moments he tried to have with me, I was going to both literally and figuratively freak the hell out. God, I'm starting to sound like Buttercup with all this cursing.

Not seconds later my phone starts to ring and Bubbles' name and photo pops up on my screen. I almost drop it in my haste to answer the call. "Hello, hello, _hello._ Bubbles?"

"Woah, Bloss, are you ok?" Her soft voice comes over the phone sounding a little worried.

 _Probably for my sanity_.

"Yeah, all good. What's up, do you need anything?"

"Oh! Uh…" _Oh man, I should've called Buttercup._ "Yes, the Professor needs help, he's...choking." _Lord help me._ I rolled my eyes.

"The professor said to come home? I thought I had until midnight?" _Yeah right, as if I could take another second of him, let alone 3 ½ hours._

"Wait, I thought your text meant that-"

"Well that's no fair! He promised. What? He said if I don't come home this instant I'm grounded? Can't argue with that man, can I? Ok see you in a few minutes! Bye!" I immediately hung up hoping that he didn't hear anything that Bubbles was saying. Note to self: text BC or the Professor or Robin or literally anyone else next time.

"You have to go?" He fixed his glasses and stood up to follow me - as I was already on my way out the door.

"Yeah, I'm really sorry, I had a good time. I'll see you at school tomorrow."

"Ok, it's no problem. See you then, I love you Bloss." He gives me a toothy smile.

"Yep, ok, bye Dexter." I slammed the door and flew as fast as I could away from his house. _Ugh, I'm a terrible human._

 **LOCATION: CITIESVILLE**

 **TIME: 8:30 PM**

 **Brick's POV**

"Doesn't matter Boom, I won fair and fucking square!"

"That's literally the exact opposite of the definition of cheating, stupid!"

"Who you calling stupid, stupid?"

"You! Stupid!"

"Would you two shut the hell up!? You're both just as stupid as the other!" I yelled from the couch. It wasn't exactly an irregular occurrence for all of us to be bantering and fighting, but at the moment I was trying to finish homework and their bickering was more annoying than it was funny. Not that the homework I had was too hard, in fact it was below my level of intelligence - and that's not me being cocky, it's seriously below the level of my genetic makeup that provided me with a higher than average IQ - however, there was a lot of it because...well hell, I put it all off until the last minute and now I have a pile to finish by tomorrow morning. I may not care about a lot of things, but grades were important to me despite what people might've thought, I wasn't stupid and I was determined to hold at least some sort of proof for that.

"Woah, what crawled up your butt Red?" Butch laughed despite my serious tone.

"I've got-" I never got to finish my sentence.

"Guys, it the cops." Boomer announced.

"Fuck me, what did you do now Butch?"

"Me? What did you do? I've been on house arrest courtesy of Mom for the past week."

"Let em in Boom. Not like we've done anything anyways...hopefully."

A couple of minutes later two officers were standing in our kitchen with solemn looks on their faces. I asked what was going on...and I really wished I hadn't.

"What do you mean? Is he ok?"

"He's in the hospital. It was pretty bad before but he is stable. You might wanna talk to your mom about heading to Townsville to visit him, might do him some good."

"We haven't been to Townsville in years….this is impossible, I just talked with him yesterday, he said he was feeling just fine." Boomer chimed in.

"According to the doctors he's been suffering from heart problems for a couple of years now. I won't say anything else, they've explicitly told us that they wanted us to speak to your...uh...your mom first."

Butch flew upstairs and came down with our mom a couple of seconds later.

"Officers. What did Butch do now?"

"Why is it always me?" Butch's comment went ignored.

"Him, I'm sorry to come with such bad news this late. Mojo...he uh...he had a heart attack. He's in the hospital, he's not doing too well. Can we talk in private?" The cop asked.

"Whatever you have to say to me can be said in front of the boys."

The officer looked surprised but continued nevertheless. "He's asking to see the boys. The doctors think it would do his health a whole lot of good if...well if the boys perhaps moved back to Townsville to live with him for a while."

I'm pretty sure everyone's eyes, minus the officers, went wide with shock. Mojo hadn't seemed to want much to do with us since we left to live in Citiesville with Him. Sure, he was our dad, but you can't help feeling not wanted when your dad thinks it's more important to take over a town than it is to help raise his kids. Him had given up on crime a while ago, in fact he was trying to keep us from going down that road; however, thanks to our DNA it wasn't that easy to keep us out of trouble, I guess it kind of just came naturally.

"Well that's up to the boys. Can I talk to them before we make any decisions?"

"Of course." He took out a card and handed it to Him. "Give us a call when you've decided, we'll pass the message onto the doctors."

No one said anything until the cops left. Butch was the first to make his stance on the issue known. "Ain't no way I'm going to live under the same roof as the monkey. The only reason he even created us was to destroy the powerpuffs so he could take over Townsville. He doesn't give a shit about us, why should we about him?"

"Come on, you guys know that's not true. He asks about you two all the time."

"Yeah because you're the only one who will talk to him Boom. And that's only because you reached out first. You can't tell me you think you'd ever be talking to him like you do at this point in time if you hadn't gone out of your way, as if he would've ever gone out of his." Butch argued.

"Yes, I do. Maybe not at first. But he feels bad, and he was always too embarrassed to contact you guys, he knew how you felt about him. If you would just give him the chance you would see that!"

"You're too nice for your own good Boomer." I say.

Everyone falls silent again.

"Mom," Boomer starts, "You haven't said anything. What do you think we should do?"

"I can't tell you boys what to do." Him sighed. "But can I give you some advice? Mojo and I created the both of you with the same intent. So if anything then I'm just as bad as he is. _But_ after a couple of years I realised there were a couple of things that were more important than world domination. I have you three now, and I was able to rekindle our relationships despite who I was. Why not give Mojo the same chance?"

"Yeah, but you came to us when we were still young, you raised us. We're 17 now, we're practically adults." I pointed out.

"And Mojo is reaching out _now._ You're all still young, maybe he's wanted to be involved in raising you and finally mustered up the courage to ask. Don't immediately disregard his reasons."

Silence again.

"If we go...hypothetically speaking right now...would you come with us at least?"

"Of course." Him says it like he's insulted I would even suggest he wouldn't. "Do you honestly think I would let my sons move to a different town and leave me here alone? Look...I'll let you think it over. But _really_ try and think about it."

Him let us talk it over after that. It took a couple of _hours_ , but we'd come to the same conclusion. There was just one problem I had to address before we could give a final answer.

"What about the powerpuffs?"

Him shrugged. "What about them?"

"Well, what if they find out we're back in town and think we're there to stir up trouble."

Him sighs for what seems like the hundredth time that night. "From what I've heard the powerpuffs aren't even in the superhero business anymore. Crime seems to have settled down in Townsville for the most part; no more giant monsters constantly attacking the city. Nonetheless, I will pay a visit to the Professor and have him talk to the girls about it, and I will let him know that _none of you_ will be causing _any_ sort of trouble. Are we clear boys...Butch?"

"Oh come on!" Butch exclaims.

"We won't even use our powers if that helps, will we boys?" I give them the look.

"Oh...come on!" Butch exclaims again but gives in when my look toward him hardens. "Fine, fine. Whatever, no powers. God, this just keeps getting worse and worse."

"Well then, I will contact Townsville High School and have your credits transferred over and call Mojo to ask about living situations tomorrow."

"Thanks Mom." Boomer smiles and hops off the barstool he was sitting on. "I'll see you guys in the morning then."

"Same here, all this monkey talk has me tired as shit."

"Language, Butch." Mom scolds him.

"Yeah, yeah. Goodnight."

Him and I are the only ones left in the kitchen after. "Take care of those two while we're there Brick."

"What happened to 'Mojo deserves a chance'?" I laugh.

"Yeah well...that doesn't mean you have to let your guard down. Unfortunately, Butch has too many guards up and Boomer has none at all. You're the sensible one, keep them out of trouble."

"I'll try." I jump off the counter and start heading toward my room. "See you in the morning Mom."

"Goodnight Brick."

It took me a while to actually fall asleep with so many thoughts running through my brain. There were multiple things that could go completely wrong if we were to move back to Townsville. Mojo could really be the asshole we - well, Butch and I - have always believed he was. The Powerpuff Girls could disregard everything we say and chose to make our lives ten times harder than they really need to be. We could end up completely hating it there. Then again there was a percentage of chance - even if it was small - that none of those things could happen and we could actually end up being glad we moved. Unfortunately, we wouldn't know unless we tried.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2, sorry for the wait, thank you for your patience! Here it is! Remember to leave me some love :)**

 **LOCATION: UTONIUM RESIDENCE - THE CITY OF TOWNSVILLE**

 **TIME: 6:30 AM**

 **Blossom's POV**

 _I'll meet you at the front of the school. 30 minutes. Love you._

I stared at the message, anxiety building in me more and more with every passing second. Why didn't I have the courage to just tell him that I didn't feel anything for him anymore? Everyone says we look so good together, and we're both smart, as if that means we have all the same interests. The problem kept becoming more evident the more I thought about the issue: not only was he boring, he brought nothing new into my life. I wanted spontaneous, I wanted passionate, I wanted to _feel_ something, and I just wasn't feeling _anything_ with Dexter. God, what was wrong with me? We were so alike in nature, we made sense on paper, but in reality I wanted the exact opposite of him.

"You need to do something about nerd boy there." Buttercup must've been looking at my phone screen from behind me. I closed the screen and turned around to see my sisters bustling around the kitchen, Bubbles making breakfast for all of us and Buttercup eating the bacon she had finished cooking.

"Trust me, I know. I just know exactly how it's going to go down. He's gonna try and analyze the situation and act like he knows what the 'actual' problem is and promise to fix it and then act like we're still together. I know him, he's not a fighter, he'll avoid all conflict and confrontation that anyone throws at him." I argued.

"Unless he's the one to start it? I mean no offense Bloss but the guy is such a...such a…"

"Know-it-all and completely obnoxious little shit stick." BC volunteers an answer.

"Yeah, that."

They were right, Dexter was a know-it-all, another one of his more irritating qualities. No matter how many people tried to put him in his place, he always somehow managed to make everyone seem like an idiot compared to him; unfortunately, that included me at times. He probably didn't even realize he was doing it, but that didn't make anyone feel any better about it.

"You need to put him in his place then Blossom. Tell him no exceptions this time, no if, ands, or buts, this breakup is for real this time and he doesn't get a say in it. A relationship is only real when there are two willing participants, and if you're not willing, well then…" Bubbles was always smarter than she seemed.

"Tell the kid to take a hike. Preferably off a cliff." I snort at Buttercups comment. Always the rougher of the three of us.

"Good morning girls!" The professor walks into the room, _almost_ as cheerful as always. Bubbles is the first to acknowledge it, asking what's wrong right away. "It's nothing too big, just some news I received last night. It actually involves you three, come on, let's talk over breakfast."

Bubbles places everything on the table and we all serve ourselves.

Buttercup breaks the ice as only Buttercup can. "What's twisting your panties this morning pops?"

"That's a new one." The professor laughs. "I got a call from someone we haven't heard from in a while. Him."

"Who?" I ask.

"Him."

We stare at him blankly. "Him who?"

"Him... _Him, Him._ "

Still none of us speak.

The professor sighs. "Red crossdressing demon Him."

There are a chorus of _oh_ s from my sisters and I.

"I forgot all about Him." Buttercup voices what we're all thinking. "I honestly thought he...she...fuck, do demons even use pronouns? I thought Him died."

"Language." The professor scolds her. "You all remember when the Rowdyruffs left town years ago? Turns out they didn't go very far, they've been living in Citiesville since then, with Him. And after a recent incident, they've decided to move back. Now I know you guys have your differences with those boys, but I've spoken to both Him and Brick and they've assured me that there will be no mischief occurring while they're living here."

The three of us shrug. We hadn't seen the Rowdyruffs in about a decade, for all we knew they were completely different people - doubtful, but not completely implausible. On top of that, it's not like we'd heard anything about Him trying to take over Citiesville while living there; from what we were able to find out Him had basically retired from crime, maybe the boys followed in the demon's footsteps (which doesn't sound like a good thing when you read it like that, but in this case it would be the best case scenario).

"As long as they don't try anything, I don't really care where they live." BC gets up from the table and pack up her bag for school, throwing everything in it carelessly. "I'll meet you guys outside, we've got like 15 minutes to get to school."

Bubbles follows after her when I offer to clean up the table. "I'll be right out." I promise her.

It's not until my sisters are both out of the room that the Professor speaks again. "You guys really don't care?"

"No, why should we? If they say they're not evil anymore then they're not evil, not unless they prove otherwise. We'll just steer clear of each other in school and everything will be fine, nothing has to change just because of those boys."

"Yeah...yeah." He shakes his head. "But Bloss...just, remember something, ok? The Rowdyruffs, they're your counterparts, you probably all understand each other more than anyone else. I hate to say it but, you might even be able to understand one another more than your own sisters. Him told me what happened and why they're actually coming back. They're going through a rough time right now, try to be considerate of that, maybe even go out of your way to be supportive."

I stop what I'm doing. "What exactly happened?"

"Something with Mojo, they said it was a heart attack."

My mouth drops open but nothing comes out. Over the years Mojo had reconciled with our family, he and the professor were on speaking terms again and we even invited him to the dinner parties we threw. He was still evil an evil jerk, but it was almost like he'd become a dysfunctional family friend. He barely plotted against the town anymore, and when he did, his methods weren't as extreme as they used to be, no one was ever hurt, it was enough for the police to handle without the help of the Powerpuff Girls. I think he honestly just kept up the act because it was all he knew.

"Ok, I'll make sure Buttercup and Bubbles know."

"Thank you, Blossom. Go on now, you're gonna be late." He kissed my forehead and pulled me in for a hug. "Have a slightly more than mediocre day at school, sweetheart."

I laugh. "Goodbye professor."

 **LOCATION: TOWNSVILLE HIGH SCHOOL**

 **TIME: 7:30 AM**

 **Brick's POV**

"You guys know the drill." I repeat for what seems like the eighth time this morning. "No getting into any shit, no causing a scene, and absolutely no powers. I don't need the powderpuffs on my ass on day one that we're here, I have enough shit to deal with as it is." That wasn't a lie. My weekend had consisted of going back and forth between schools to get everything transferred over for me and my brothers and it hadn't been as smooth as I had hoped it would be. Apparently Townsville High didn't offer the exact same credits as Citiesville High and so they had to figure out what classes they could put us into. They'd almost wanted us to take placement tests until I stepped in and was able to decipher just what level each of us were at in every subject. It was a pain in the ass, and so was I the entire process, but it was better than having to go through all that testing, because although I probably wouldn't have minded, Boomer would have moaned and Butch would've bitched about it, and I wasn't in the mood to deal with them while also having to deal with the moving process in such a short timespan.

We'd gotten everything moved in pretty quickly after that. There were still boxes scattered around the new house Him had somehow gotten on such short notice - I didn't want to admit it, but Mojo probably helped greatly in that department - and the place was kind of a mess given that three boys and a demon were occupying it, but it wasn't too bad. By the end of the week I'm sure it would look much more like home...or at least, I hoped it would.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Got it Brickhead, no fun whatsoever." Butch rolls his eyes for what also seemed like the eighth time today. "Let's get this day over with so I can go home and take a nap."

It was obvious that word had gotten around the school pretty quickly. I don't know how exactly, but it was like everyone just _knew_ we'd be arriving that day. Most of the students seemed put off, a lot of them looked a little scared of us - not that I blame them, we had superpowers after all and our reputation wasn't that great - and others just looked intrigued, especially the girls, not to sound cocky or anything, but we weren't ugly, it wasn't just our senses and abilities that were well above average, and it was hard to ignore the stares.

First period was easy enough to get through, we were together and no one tried to talk to us. Second period wasn't bad either. It was when third period hit that none of us had the same class and so we'd be split up, and Boomer wasn't very happy about it.

"What if I get hungry? What if I have to go to the bathroom? What if I don't know what they're doing in there?" He prattled on.

"Oh my god, dude, chill the fuck out. You'll be fine." Butch shoved him and laughed at his antics.

"Relax Boom, all you gotta do it reach into your backpack and pull out your granola bar, you spaz. If you have to go to the bathroom you can ask like the big boy you are. Those were some really fucking weird problems to pick by the way. And it's art class, how hard can it really be to pick up on what they're learning?" I slam my locker shut and start walking in the opposite direction.

"Art class isn't that easy Brick! Fuckhead…" He mumbles the last part, but I hear it and laugh.

"Whatever Boom, go paint a fucking basket of fruits or some shit!" I yell back. Somewhere behind me Butch busts out laughing. I turn a corner after that, leaving them to find their classes on their own.

It's AP Geography and I'm bored out of my mind. The class only began about 5 minutes ago and I'm already counting down the minutes until it ends. Most of the material is repetitive, stuff I'd learned a couple weeks prior at my other school. I thought the class couldn't get any worse, until about 10 minutes in.

"Blossom. You're usually not late, do you have a pass?" The teacher, an older man with greying hair and a terrible sense of style, asks.

 _Holy shit_. I miss everything he, or honestly anything anyone else, says after my eyes lock onto her. I'm not a fucking sap or anything, and I didn't believe in any sort of religion, but if angels existed then she was definitely one. She was different than I'd remembered, taller and prettier. _Of course she's different you idiot, she was a little girl when you last saw her, and now she's...she's…_

"Gorgeous." My eyes widened the moment I'd said it. _Son of a bitch, I'd said it outloud._ I looked around me and was thankful to see that no one had heard me, too absorbed in their phones or notes to have been paying any attention to my dumbass self.

"Go ahead and take a seat Blossom, we're just going over the rest of the chapter we started yesterday."

 _Oh crap, she's walking over. Stop staring Brick._ My eyes flew down to the blank sheet of paper on my desk. I didn't know whether I wanted her to notice me or completely ignore me. On the one hand, she was utterly breathtaking; glowing pink eyes, gorgeous long hair, a killer body - I'm a guy, of course I looked - but on the other hand, we grew up as mortal enemies, we hated each other when we were younger, who's to say she still didn't. I knew I'd moved on from the loathing seeing as we hadn't seen each other in more than ten years, it was useless to hate someone you no longer knew, but that didn't mean she didn't still hate me.

"Who can tell me the single commonality that all religions share?" _You've got to be kidding me. Of course I'd transfer to a school three weeks behind._ "Dexter." The teacher sounded almost annoyed that he'd been the only student to raise his hand.

"The belief or worship of a holy deity. I know most people may not know this, but I've studied up on many religions around the world and come to find that every one of them focuses on a single or multiple gods."

I scoff at his answer. He's so smug for someone that's so wrong. I can feel everyone's eyes on me in that moment.

"That's incorrect actually." A collective gasp comes from the class. _Seriously, what, was this guy never wrong?_ "And it seems that our new student knew that as well. Mr….Jojo is it? Do you happen to know the correct answer?"

"I've done extensive research into all kinds of religious belief systems, and I can very much assure you that I am correct." The kid tries to argue. If there's anything that gets on my nerves its when students try to argue against someone who teaches the subject for a living.

Before the teacher can, once again, tell the kid he's wrong, I intervene. "I'm sure you've done _extremely_ extensive research _Dexter,"_ I practically spit his name out, "but not all religions believe in a deity. Buddha never claimed to be a god or anything of the sort and Buddhists simply look to him as a teacher, therefore, in their eyes, he's not a god. The _actual_ commonality between religions would be the concept of the sacred, something that may be worshipped or cherished by its followers."

The teacher smiled, almost content with my winning the argument. "Very good Brick. Dexter, feel free to ask for any studying tips from our new student, he seems to know his stuff." The class fills with slight laughs and giggles, and one in particular catches my attention. I look back and our eyes briefly meet, but it's enough to make me feel just a little smug about being right and embarrassing the know-it-all. Throughout the rest of the class I stayed silent, mostly because that Dexter kid wasn't saying anything either. Blossom answered a couple of other questions without hesitation, and I shit you not I've never been more turned on by someone. She was ridiculously smart and so thorough with her answer and remarks. Call me a nerd, but holy shit it was hot.

Above all else, I valued intelligence in a woman. I'd gone on plenty of dates with girls who just couldn't keep up in conversation with me, and although they were cool and everything, there was a depth that I'd found them all to be lacking. I liked a chic with opinions, someone who wasn't afraid to ask questions and speak up about what she believed. What can I say, intelligence is hot. And Blossom was as intelligent as they seemed to come.

The bell rang, and unlike before I actually felt myself wishing the class had been longer.

 **LOCATION: TOWNSVILLE HIGH - CAFETERIA**

 **TIME: 12:45 PM**

 **Blossom's POV**

After third period I practically ran out the door to catch up with the red head who'd totally embarrassed my, unfortunately still current, boyfriend.

He stopped at a locker near mine. "Brick!" His head snapped in my direction and a small smirk made its way onto his face. _God, he was ridiculously good looking_.

"What's up Red?" His voice alone made me want to blush, it was deep and he had a slight city accent, probably from living in Citiesville for a majority of his life.

"I heard about Mojo." His smirk fell a little. "I just wanted to say that if you need anything my sisters and I can help, we still have pull with a lot of people in Townsville, perks of saving it so many times I guess." I shrug, trying my hardest to sound honest and not stuck up.

"Thanks, but I think we're ok right now. Besides, Boomer is the only one who's super close with Mojo, so…" He continues digging through his locker, switching out one book for another.

"Ok...well, anyways, it was pretty funny what you did in class. No one usually stands up to Dexter. If you weren't there we all would've probably had to sit through an hour lecture by him about why he was right. He's kind of annoying like that."

"Yeah, I could tell." He scoffs like he did in class. "Kid's a fucking obnoxious know-it-all, someone's gonna knock him on his ass for it one day. Might just be have to be me."

 _I've never been around someone who curses so much. Well, I mean there was Buttercup...but she was always scolded for it. Dexter never cursed, he said it was below him and that only people with little intelligence did it. Obviously he was wrong._

I laughed at that idea of Brick literally knocking Dexter onto his ass. There's no way Dexter would fight back, not that he was a pacifist or anything, he was just a huge pansy about things, which is another thing we don't have in common. Not that I thought violence was always the solution, but I grew up fighting my way out of problems most of the time, I wasn't ignorant, I knew that sometimes you had to fight for what you believed in and for what you loved.

"Blossom." Speak of the devil and he shall appear. "Who's your new friend?" He acts as if he doesn't remember Brick showing him up in class.

"Dexter, this is Brick Jojo. He used to live here in Townsville a couple years back." I introduced them. "Brick, this is Dexter."

Dexter stuck his hand out for Brick to shake. Brick just stared at it like he was weirded out by the boy. "Her boyfriend." Dexter smirked as Brick's eyebrows rose up and his face grew hard.

"You're dating this kid?" He kept his eyes on me. "That's...something."

"Yeah actually, Dexter, I need to talk with you about-"

"Our trip out of town next week, of course darling, we'll discuss it later." He smiled.

"What? Wait...what?" I stuttered. _Crap, I knew one day not listening to him would come back to bite me in the butt._ "Right...yeah, no I can't make it that day."

"It was supposed to be over the weekend."

"I can't make it that weekend."

"What happened? Did something come up?" _I almost feel bad for lying to him...almost._ I really needed to break up with him, just not in the middle of the day, and not in such a public setting, and not with Brick standing right there.

For the first time ever, I was completely out of lies to feed him in order to get out of plans he'd made for us. "I, uh, I just remembered that I…"

"She promised her dad that she would help my brothers and me settle back into Townsville. She knows practically everyone, and practically everyone owes her a couple favors, so we figured she could help get the mayor and the police department off our backs." Brick stepped in for me. _Thank you god_.

"Already causing trouble? What is it, your first day back?"

"Dexter!" I wanted to hit him. It was his jealousy speaking, he wanted to pick on whatever flaw he could find in Brick to get back at him for appearing smarter.

"No, no trouble yet, but if you don't step back and shut your mouth, there's about to be."

"Brick." I lightly touched his arm. He wasn't serious, I'd seen Brick be serious about beating people up, and I knew better than anyone how he worked. _It's like the professor said, we all probably know eachother better than anyone else, it was because of how alike we were._ He wouldn't start a fight with someone he knew couldn't keep up with him, not here at least. "I have gym next, walk with me."

He gave Dexter one last glower before turning around and motioning for me to lead the way. "After you, Red."


	3. Chapter 3

**LOCATION: CAFETERIA, TOWNSVILLE HIGH SCHOOL**

 **TIME: 12:30 PM**

 **Brick's POV**

I wanted to kick the little shit in the face. And it wasn't because he was trying to one up me in any way, it wasn't because he had a comment for everything that came out of my mouth, and it wasn't because he was keen on finding some way to make himself seem smarter than me. All those things didn't matter. It was him being with Blossom that I had an issue with. _No, let me correct myself_. More than anything, it was the _way_ he treated Blossom that made me want to kick the little shit in the face.

 _Oh no, Blossom, you really should focus more on the abstract thought of all of it, you'll get it eventually._

 _Oh no, Blossom, you know we have that study session I planned for us tonight, you have to cancel with your friends I guess._

 _Oh no, Blossom, I'm not going to some stupid concert when the science convention is in town that weekend. That one doctor guy that studies that super boring thing is giving some dumbass lecture that I wanna drag you to against your will._

Ok maybe he didn't say that last part, but he did disregard her suggestion and then basically tell her they're doing whatever he wanted them to do. He was acting like the only things that mattered were his ideas and his plans for _them_ , as if Blossom wasn't her own person. He even went as far as to get up and get Blossom food, that she obviously didn't want, for lunch.

"I'm actually ok right now and I don't want anything from the cafeteria anyways, but thanks-"

"Nonsense," Dexter insisted, "you've gotta be starving, I'll go get you a salad or something, darling."

 _Darling? Good god, what is this, that 1940s?_

"It's ok, really." She tried to tell him, but Dexter wasn't listening.

"Damn dude, did you wanna cut up her food and feed her too?" I was joking...sort of. "I mean, how else would she be able to eat it, what with her being her incapable self?"

Dexter rolled his eyes, but I could tell he was embarrassed as everyone at our lunch table stared at us, listening into our conversation.

My brothers and I didn't have the same lunch period, but Blossom and I did, and she had invited me to sit with her and her friends. I was now wishing I'd just skipped lunch altogether.

"I never said Blossom was incapable."

"Well you sure treat her like she is." I smiled, knowing it would piss him off further. "Why don't you try asking her if and what she wants to eat? Look, I'll show you. Hey Blossom, want half of my sandwich, it's peanut butter and jelly."

Blossom's face matched the color of her eyes, but I think that had more to do with how hard she was trying not to laugh at my comments. "Actually that sounds good, thanks." I handed her half my sandwich and threw her a wink, which she returned with a grateful smile.

"I thought you said you weren't hungry." Dexter turned to the powerpuff next to him.

"So he was listening." I pointed out, but was ignored.

"I said I didn't want anything from the cafeteria, and PB and J sounded too good to pass up, so…" She averted her eyes toward mine. _I take it back,_ I thought, _I extremely glad that I sat with her and her friends for lunch_.

It was safe to say, I might have developed a little bit of a crush on the red headed powerpuff in a spanse of only a couple of hours, but it was hard when everything that came out of her mouth was equally intelligent and alluring...and there was the fact that she, well, looked like _that_.

I refused to give up any of Blossom's attention after that. Nothing satisfied me more than the look on her _boyfriend's_ face when she paid him barely any mind, rarely letting our conversation be interrupted for very long. He was getting frustrated, it was pretty easy to tell. So, obviously, I felt it time to put the nail in the coffin.

"Hey, you know I really like that band you were talking about earlier," _not a lie actually, I didn't have a particular favorite genre in music, although I was bias towards certain types, but I really did like the band she'd been talking about_ , "if you wanted someone to go with you to the concert I'd totally be down to go. Where is it?"

Her eyes grew practically three sizes. "Really? You like _Florence_?"

 _Florence + The Machine_ , yes I strangely liked indie rock, it wasn't my typical style, but I liked all kinds of music. "Yeah, weirdly enough, I'm not too picky about what I listen to. It sounds fun."

"That'd be awesome, and it's perfect because they're playing at the amphitheater in Citiesville, so you would know the area a lot better than I would." She was glowing, Dexter was glaring, and I was _this_ close to punching him in his face.

"Definitely," I confirmed, "I can drive us if you want, we can head down there early and get something to eat before the concert and find some good parking, it gets pretty crazy near that amphitheater."

It was pretty shitty of me to be trying to woo Dexter's girl, but there was no bro code between us. We weren't friends in any way, and Blossom was one of the only girls to actually capture my interest. I wanted to know more about her, so that's what I was gonna do. And it was only when - and if - _she_ told me to back off that I would.

 **LOCATION: TOWNSVILLE HIGH SCHOOL**

 **TIME: 2:30 PM**

 **Brick's POV**

The day couldn't go by fast enough. I wanted to go home and nap for the rest of the night, but I had a ton of homework to catch up on, and there was just one other little problem.

"What do you mean you have detention?" I spat at my idiot brother.

Butch shrugged. "Boomer bet me $20 that I couldn't flip over three tables at lunch today."

" _And?"_

"Well, let's just say I now have twenty extra dollars in my pocket and probably a soon to be super swollen ankle."

"You're an idiot." I lightly shoved him against the wall and looked over at Boomer. "And what about you, huh? Am I driving you home or are you waiting with me for Butch?"

Boomer shuffled his feet a little. I knew that move. "Uh, actually...you see...I joined art club this afternoon...so, I'm staying behind too."

"So now I have to wait for you dumbasses? I knew I should've driven separately this morning."

"Just hang out at the library or something you nerd," Butch huffed, already heading down the hallway toward wherever detention must've been being held, "not like you you have anything better to do."

I didn't bother cursing him out, knowing that he would be able to hear me but still wouldn't care; it was a waste of breath at that point. I told Boomer to text me when he got out of his club meeting and that we'd just meet back near the car afterwards.

Actually taking a suggestion from Butch for once, I found myself doing homework in the library not minutes later. I didn't have much to catch up on, but it seemed like the minute I walked into this school there was work being shoved down my throat. Deciding to start on something I knew well enough, I began writing the paper due next week for AP English on _The Great Gatsby_. It was actually a good thing that I'd been at the library in the first place because I needed to check out a copy. I'd read the book a million and two times but still needed to pull out certain lines for examples, and it wouldn't hurt to read it once more.

I was skimming the aisles for Fitzgerald in the classics section when I felt eyes on me. Turning around I made direct eye contact with someone I really wished I hadn't. _Should've ignored it, Brick,_ I thought to myself.

"Can I help you, buddy?" The sarcasm was plain as day in my voice.

He made his way over to me after that, standing directly in front of me. I towered over the kid by a good couple of inches, and definitely surpassed him in muscle, but I had to hand it to the guy, as scared as he looked, he didn't seem like he was going to back down.

"I want you to stay the heck away from my girlfriend, Rowdyruff." He spat out my name like it was filth. I was used to that though, a lot of people in this town hated me and my brothers so hearing it from him really was no different. I didn't care what people thought. _Well, most people…_

"Calm down, Poindexter," I chuckled, "you might blow a fuse in that giant brain of yours."

"You may think that just because you and Blossom _knew each other_ when you were young that you have something over me, but let me tell you something," he started, "you're nothing in this town. Never have been, never will be. You trying to steal my girlfriend, someone that's definitely too good for someone like _you_ , just proves how delusional you are. What do you think is gonna happen? Blossom is gonna break up with me or ditch me to go out with you? She may be your type, but you're not hers; what Blossom and I have is too strong for someone like you to come in and ruin it. So I'm gonna say this once, and only once, stay _away_ from her."

 _God give me the strength not to throw this idiot through a wall._ I let him calm down a little bit after that little spiel while resonating over his words. Obviously Blossom was too good for me, hell, she was too good for anyone in this shit town, but that wasn't going to deter me from anything. I didn't plan on stealing his girlfriend, I just wanted to spend time with a pretty girl who seemed really cool, and if something happened along the way, well _c'est la vie_.

That little shit, however, just changed all of my plans.

"You actually told me to stay away from her twice," I smirked, "just so you know."

He opened his mouth to probably say more words that would pass right through one of my ears and exit directly out the other. I didn't let him get that far.

"If what you and Blossom have is _so strong_ , as you say, then why exactly do you feel that need to threaten me, who by the way would have no problem, both physically and morally, with kicking your ass all the way across this city?" I made sure to look down at him as I spoke, and I could tell my intimidation tactic was working because he seemed to be shrinking into himself. "You wanna talk about not good enough for Blossom? Dude, have you looked in the mirror? No, have you listened to yourself talk? That girl is a fucking goddess among savages. I _know_ I would never be good enough for someone like her, but at least I can admit that; for some reason though, you seem to think _you're_ worthy of her, and let me bring you down a couple of notches. Just so we're completely clear. You. Are. _Way_. Out of her league. You're a snobby, arrogant, weasley little shitbag who thinks that he has something to prove just because he's smart. Oh, and you're maybe a 4 who's dating a solid 10."

When he didn't say anything back, I took that as my cue to continue. "You see, I wasn't going to actively try and steal your girl, but now that we've had this little conversation...I gotta say, you've really put things into perspective for me. And now," I pulled out a copy of the book I had been searching for, not once breaking eye contact with the kid in front of me, "now, I'm gonna fuck your girlfriend, Poindexter."

I left him in utter shock as I made my way back to my belongings, picked them up, and exited the library.


	4. Chapter 4

**LOCATION: DOWNTOWN TOWNSVILLE**

 **TIME: 6:30 PM**

 **Blossom's POV**

Dexter sat opposite me in the booth of the little restaurant we sat in. I hated this restaurant, and Dexter knew that, but he liked it so we often found ourselves here. I had stopped trying to put up a fight with him about where we went on dates; I mean what was the point when I always lost?

"So, hey about that concert you and Jojo were talking about-"

"Brick." I corrected him, annoyed that he couldn't just call the Rowdyruff by his first name. It was hypocritical sort of, because I knew it wouldn't bother me to hear Brick call Dexter by his last name, but for some reason I didn't like when Dexter did it. I almost felt bad. _Almost._

"Whatever," it was one of the few times I'd actually ever seen Dexter angry, "I, uh, I think it would be really scandalous for you to go with another man when you're in a relationship already."

 _Did he just insinuate that I was a whore? No, Blossom, don't put words in his mouth._

"I mean we wouldn't want people to think that you're something you're not, you know?"

 _Oh my fucking god, I think he really is insinuating it, what the fu-_

My phone vibrated on the table next to me. The screen lit up, reading off a number that wasn't in my contacts. I answered, something I normally wouldn't do but I was desperate to spend as little time with Dexter as possible. All I wanted was to break up with him tonight and move on with my life. I hadn't been able to bring it up for the last hour that we'd been sitting there.

"Hello?"

"You look bored out of your mind right now," a raspy voice replied over the phone. I'd barely been around him since he'd been back in town and yet I instantly knew that voice. Before I could look around for him he spoke again, "don't look around. Pretend I'm your dad and excuse yourself from the table."

I can't tell you why I did it, but I did. Putting my hand over the bottom of my phone, I told Dexter that it was my dad and to give me just a minute, just like I was told.

Putting my phone back to my ear, I heard him talking again, "I'll meet you outside," and then he hung up.

Shit sure enough, there he was as I stepped outside the doors of the restaurant. "Brick, what are you doing here?"

"Well I was picking up food, but then I saw how shitty the menu was and was about to dip when I saw you looking like you wanted to rip your hair out over at that table. Are you guys on a date or something?" He was chuckling at my expense.

"Or something…" I mumbled. I swear his face lit up a little bit.

"Well look, I was gonna stop and eat somewhere where they cooked decent food and then maybe hit up a couple stores for shit that we need back at the new house. If you feel like having an actual good time, because it looks like you really aren't, then you're free to join me."

 _How terrible of a girlfriend would I have to be to ditch my boyfriend for another guy?_

"No pressure, but I promise I'm a hell of a lot more fun," he winked.

 _Technically I was here to break up with Dexter anyways._

"What- what would I even tell Dexter?" I stuttered out.

Brick smirked, "that's why I said to tell him it was your dad. Say you had a family thing and you have to go home. Have you eaten anything yet?"

"I just had a side salad," I shrugged, "this place isn't that good."

"Why are you here then?"

How do I answer that without seeming pathetic? _Dexter really likes it and doesn't care about my likes or dislikes apparently._ Yeah that sounds great. So instead of answering, I shrug again.

"If you're looking for an out, I'm happy to give you one." There was that mischievous smile he was constantly giving me, the same one he gave me when he offered me his sandwich and when he asked to go to the Florence concert with me. That smile had a way of swaying my opinion right in his favor.

"Give me five minutes, I'll meet you by the fountain right over there." _I just have to get rid of Dexter and make him think I'm flying home._ I didn't say that last part aloud.

It was actually easy enough to lie to Dexter this time around. He told me to text him tomorrow and paid for his meal while I paid for mine. That didn't bother me at all. Ok it did, but not because I expected it or anything, it was just because Dexter had a habit of never wanting to pay for anything that we did. There were times when I would even pay for the both of us, and while he had paid for our first date, he never paid for anything afterwards, despite me having done so on multiple occasions. It was more annoying than anything, and kind of inconsiderate. But right now, I had more important things to do, like find a certain redhead that got me out of this horrific night in the first place.

He wasn't hard to spot, his red hat gave him right away. When he saw me running towards him, he raised both palms up, waiting for me to high five him. I did, and he let our hands fall but didn't let go. I can't say that I tried to pull them away either.

"Alright then Red, let's get some food, I'm fucking starving." _God, he really did have the worst mouth._ I found myself liking that though. You know those weird random things you find in guys that you like? It was terrible to say, but...I really _really_ liked when he cursed, I liked it a little too much for someone who was not single.

He eventually did pull our hands apart, but still kept his body close to me, putting his arm around my shoulders. I know I should've pushed it away, but I figured I would be breaking up with Dexter soon anyways. What was the harm in being semi-affectionate toward someone? _Blossom, you idiot, just because you will be single doesn't mean you are right now,_ my head screamed. _Oh, fuck off,_ my heart yelled back.

"You pick somewhere, I don't know this area very well."

"What kind of food are you feeling?"

"Nothing specific. Is there anywhere you really like down here?"

There was actually. I hadn't been there in years because it's a little further from the house and Professor doesn't like to drive too far when we go out to eat, and like I said before Dexter liked to pick where we ate. Safe to say he never picked this specific place because he didn't believe in eating unhealthy, whereas my body could handle the extra calories. And lucky for me, Brick's could as well.

"Blossom, I don't mean to come off too strong here but please marry me."

I couldn't help laughing as I dragged him into the burger joint I'd led us to. We ordered and took a seat at one of the booths in the corner while we waited for them to call our number.

"You didn't have to pay," I told him again.

"I'm the one who asked you to come with me, I have no problem paying. Mojo is trying to buy us off anyways so keeps throwing money at us, probably thinks it'll make us love him." The red Rowdyruff put up a good front but I didn't miss the little glint of anger in his eyes when he spoke about Mojo.

"You're not on good terms with Mojo?"

"Is anyone?"

"Point taken." I smiled sadly. "But he's _your_ dad, I thought you'd be closer."

Brick sighed, obviously put off by the topic. I was going to tell him not to worry about it, that if he didn't feel like talking about Mojo then he didn't need to, but he started talking before I could utter a word. "Boomer's close with him but Butch and I don't really care much I guess. Him took us to Citiesville and that was that. Mojo just hasn't exactly been a huge part of our lives. I mean I'm only back here because Boomer and Him thought it'd be a good idea to be around him, I don't know, some bullshit about Mojo wanting to spend more time with us or something."

It was a sensitive subject, and I didn't want to say something that would offend him because I definitely didn't know the whole story. Brick obviously held some sort of resentment toward Mojo, something he didn't hold toward Him, and there was a reason for that.

"The Professor told me about his heart attack, and I know you say you don't care, but it still affects you in some way, what with you living with him now. So, if you ever wanna talk or just need a place to crash if it gets to be too much the Professor wouldn't mind. He kind of has a habit of taking are of superpowered kids so…"

Right on time, our number was called at the counter. Brick squeezed my hand, that I hadn't even realized he'd been holding, and got up to get our food.

 _Blossom, you are way too deep girl._

 **LOCATION: DOWNTOWN TOWNSVILLE**

 **TIME: 8:00 PM**

 **Brick's POV**

Growing up was weird for my brothers and I. We didn't have a normal childhood since both of our parents were supervillains hell bent on destroying a single city and one was a monkey and the other a crossdressing demon. We got made fun of a lot, and when we went to Citiesville it wasn't any easier. Fear was kind of the only way we could deal with all of it, and I don't mean feeling fear, I mean instilling fear into anyone that tried to talk shit. Him had laid down the law after a particularly bad fight between me and another kid at our school, telling us that we needed to keep our anger in check and that he'd ship us back to Townsville to live with Mojo if we got into one more fight. By that time, everyone at school had learned not to mess with us - putting someone in the hospital with a concussion and three broken bones and a dislocated jaw will do that I guess.

Bottom line, we weren't normal kids, we had super powers and abnormal parents, and we were the only other people who knew what it was like to grow up that way. I could only ever relate to my brothers, and they were great but we weren't a very affectionate family, no one wanted to talk about their feelings much at my house - well except maybe Boomer. But Blossom, I found, was ridiculously easy to talk to.

"And everyone asks about my ice breath thing, and they always wanna see me do it. It was cool when I first started using it, and I liked the attention, but now I feel like that's all they really care about, you know, seeing my powers." _What can I say, the girl gets me_.

"That's always the first thing they ask about right? Your powers and everything. And then you go to move the topic along-"

"And they bring it right back around." We said simultaneously.

"God I hate that."

I don't know if Blossom had realized how long we'd been holding hands for, but I decided after about two minutes that I wasn't going to say anything and I would just see how this would play out. My plan for tonight hadn't actually been to hang out with the other red head, it kind of just happened. Sure, I had told Dexter earlier that I was gonna steal his girlfriend - _you said fuck Brick, you said you would fuck his girlfriend_ \- ok yeah, but that moreover was supposed to mean I was gonna steal his girlfriend and in turn we would be fucking, man I really hope this is making sense. Bottom line, yes I wanted Blossom for myself, but I also wanted her to want me back in a way that I couldn't explain. As far as I was concerned, Poindexter was just collateral damage that I would happily sacrifice in my mission to win over the pink powerpuff.

"You're not wearing your hat." Despite the fact that she pointed out the obvious, I was actually surprised that she had even noticed. Then again, I did wear it 90% of the time I was in public.

"Oh, yeah, I wasn't planning on being out for so long, so I kind of just left it back at the house."

"I hope I'm not keeping you or anything." _She's truly adorable._

I couldn't control the scoff that left my lips, "trust me, I'd much rather be here than back at Mojo's. Before I left Boomer and Butch were getting into it about switching rooms, something about Boomer's being bigger, I don't really know. But that led into a whole fight about Mojo favoring Boomer and I dipped before they could drag me into it. Moral of story: you got me for as long as you want."

"Sounds about as fun as my night before you showed up." Not knowing whether it was actually happening or just my brain playing tricks on me, I thought that I felt Blossom lean just a little bit closer. It could've also been because of the fact that it was getting a little chilly outside now that the sun had completely set.

But her comment threw me off, which caused me to move my focus from wondering if she was moving closer to wondering what exactly was going on with her relationship. "Are you and Poindexter like _dating_ dating or are you guys just like friends and he thinks you're dating? Because I've tried to understand the dynamic, and I'm not saying this is a harsh way but you and him just don't seem like you're on the same page."

For a good couple of minutes Blossom didn't say anything. Afraid that I might have offended her in some way I slowed down our pace and tried to bring her gaze onto my own. To my relief, she didn't look offended but more contemplative. I pulled on her hand, _bad idea_ because it definitely made her realize we'd been holding hands for a good portion of the time we'd spent walking. She pulled her hand away after that and I'm sure she could tell how I felt about that, it's not like I tried to hide my emotions.

My dumbass self couldn't stand the silence and decided it would be a good idea to fill it with a bunch of sentences that I didn't let filter through my brain before slipping out of my mouth. "I'm not judging your relationship or anything," _I totally am_ , "I'm just saying you were pretty eager to get away from him tonight. And I'm not an expert on dating, trust me, but from what little I know, usually couples _enjoy_ spending time with each other. It's none of my business-"

"No, it's not." Blossom cut me off. Not gonna lie, the tone in her voice was enough to make me feel just a tad bit embarrassed. Maybe I had been reading all of the signals _way_ wrong and they were just in a fight or something and it turns out Blossom really did like him; _god that would be the most embarrassing shit ever, I was never gonna be able to live down that 'I'm gonna fuck your girl' comment now._

I began to apologize but was stopped once again. "I'm sorry, Brick, I didn't mean to come out in that way. The truth is, I've never really talked about it with anyone except for my sisters and even they don't know the whole story." I kept my mouth shut this time, waiting to see if she would continue. She did. "Does it make me a terrible person to actually _despise_ the person I'm dating," _fucking score, we are back in business ladies and gentlemen_ , "Dexter's not a bad person, he's just not...great, relationship-wise that is. It's like why even be in a relationship if you're not completely happy, you know? And I've tried to give him the benefit of the doubt, but then he just says things that make me feel stupid," _should've beat the crap outta the kid when I had the chance,_ "and I know he does it on purpose to other people and it gets me thinking...what if he's doing it on purpose to me too? I've even tried breaking up with him before, and it never works because he talks his way out of it and things are good for a couple of days and then it's back to the same things over and over again. And I feel bad, I mean this last time he cried for like twenty minutes and begged me to give him another chance and I just felt _so bad_ that I couldn't go through with it, so I told him what he wanted to hear."

 _How the hell did I respond to that without seeming completely biased? Of course he begged Blossom, you're a literal goddess and there's absolutely no way in hell that he could do any better; you're his peak, he'll never be able to get someone like you to like him ever again. If I were him I would've been on my knees pleading for forgiveness and promising anything and everything you could ever want; I wanna be right now and we're not even together and you're not even threatening to leave me. Of course you should dump him, you could have so much better, I would be so much better. How are you even with this kid?_

"Oh my god, I totally unloaded all of that on you and now you're probably so freaked out," Blossom's voice broke me out of my inner _pathetic_ monologue, "I'm so, so, so sorry."

"Don't apologize," I stopped her, "you have nothing to be sorry for. Look I can't tell you what to do so I'm not gonna give you advice, but I can tell you what I see from the very limited experience that I have from witnessing the dynamic between you two." When she didn't say anything I took that as a sign to continue. "He looks like he's living on top of the world trying to boss you around and tell you what's good for you, and you just look lonely...and lost...and really fucking sad. No one should have to feel that way in their relationship."

Blossom didn't say anything else on the matter, but I think that may have been because the topic was just upsetting her too much. Instead, she hugged me, and I hugged her back until she felt better. The night ended shortly after. I drove her home, even though she could've easily flown, and once again I held her hand the entire way there. This time, however, I was sure that she noticed, because I refused to believe she wasn't aware of her fingers playing with mine and her thumb running across the top of my hand. I'd spent most of my life feeling so angry, and I'd never realized that until that moment in the car with Blossom where neither of us spoke and music played through the bluetooth at a volume that was maybe just a bit too loud and the wind caused an absolute mess of both of our hair as it whipped through the open windows and every so often one of us would squeeze the other's hand. I'd spent most of my life feeling so angry, and I'd never noticed until that moment in the car with Blossom where for the first time in what felt like an eternity, I was completely at peace.


	5. Chapter 5

**LOCATION: JOJO RESIDENCE**

 **TIME: 2:00 PM**

 **Brick's POV**

"You got home late last night."

 _For fuck's sake._ I slowly closed the fridge, trying my best not to roll my eyes so that he could see. _What the hell did he care anyways?_ Honestly, ever since I'd gotten to Townsville, I'd done my best to keep busy and not be alone with Mojo at all. I knew it wouldn't last forever, but one can only dream.

"Yeah," was the only reply I could think of. He didn't need to know where I was anyways, nothing that I did was his business. It hadn't been his business for the last decade of my life, it didn't need to be now.

We sat in awkward silence while I ate the cereal I'd poured for myself and he just hung out in the kitchen. I could tell that he didn't know what to say, but I refused to be the first one to speak up. I had nothing to say, so what would be the point?

Mojo cleared his throat, now holding a contemplative look on his face, probably wondering how to word whatever was coming out of his mouth next. "Professor Utonium...invited us to a barbeque that they're having...a couple of weeks from now...if you and your brothers would like to go with me."

"Yeah, Blossom already invited me." No she didn't, but he didn't know that. It just felt better having him think that in some way us being invited separately meant that we would be going separately as well. Because we would be, I would make sure of that. I didn't think about what my words had insinuated, however, and that opened an entirely new can of worms that lead Mojo to think he now had a topic he and I could discuss together.

"Oh, you and Blossom are friends then?" _You just had to open your big mouth instead of refusing the invitation, didn't you Brick?_ _Now look what you've done, the monkey's found an in._ "That's good, that's really good. I think it'd be good for you guys to hang out with them, they're a good influence-"

Walking back into the kitchen, I threw my now empty bowl into the sink so hard it probably broke but I didn't pay much attention, too focused on the words now coming out of Mojo's dumbass mouth. "What's that supposed to mean?" I narrowed my eyes at him.

"It's just…" he stumbled over his words. "You guys have, you know…a reputation here. And it's not that I think you-"

"Who fucking cares what people think here? We haven't committed any kind of big crimes since we were younger, that should be enough for people."

"Brick-"

"No, don't worry about it. I'm not even fucking surprised." My hand slipped turning off the sink and slid down just enough to catch the side of the bowl that, yes, did actually break. A nice slice down my palm appeared, only adding to my annoyance. _Now I'm angry and bleeding, great._ But I barely flinched as I continued. "You don't gotta worry about us tarnishing your new and improved reputation of the reformed villain." That's right, after his heart attack he made a statement in the papers saying he was giving up crime to 'spend time on the things that really mattered in life' _whatever the fuck that meant_. "We're not as big of screw ups as you think we are."

"That's not what I said Brick," he tried to reason with me, but in his defense no one could at this point. I was on a roll.

"It was implied," I was almost shouting now, wrapping my hand in paper towels before making my way to the door and grabbing my car keys with my good hand, "and so was the fact that you only brought us here because you knew it would add to everyone's sympathy and they'd cut you on jail time if you made it look like all you wanted was to spend this time _healing_ with _family_. But we're not that Mojo, we're not a _fucking family_." I slammed the door on my way out, loud enough for probably everyone in the house to hear it.

 _Nice going, Brick. Control just isn't your strong suit, is it?_ That was gonna definitely come back to bite me in the ass when Him came by later and Mojo told him, but I couldn't really find it in myself to actually give a shit right now.

 **LOCATION: POWERPUFF RESIDENCE**

 **TIME: 2:30 PM**

 **Blossom's POV**

 _Hey, we need to talk…_

Too ominous. Delete.

 _Are you free today? I wanna talk…_

No, too subtle. Delete.

 _Dexter I wanna break up._

God no. Delete. Delete. Delete.

 _I don't love you anymore_.

Too harsh. Delete. 

I couldn't do it over text message, I had to do it in person. Reverting back to my second message, I decided that asking to meet up would be the best option. I retyped my message, my thumb lingering over the send button, wondering whether or not I was making the right decision. Brick was spot on the night before. Dexter did treat me like he could control me and I just sat back and took it at times because I was just too tired to fight about it. I wasn't confused about whether I should break up with Dexter, no, I knew that was the right idea. I was confused about how to go about breaking up with him in the most civilized of ways.

A part of me was afraid he would assume I was dumping him because of Brick; Dexter had always had a weird jealousy of other guys around me, even Mitch who was by far more into Buttercup than me. I wanted him to know that it wasn't because I liked someone else. _That's right, I like Brick. But that has nothing to do with not liking Dexter, and I'm not about to jump back into a relationship after just getting out of another._ I wanted Dexter to know that it was because of his actions, not my feelings, that we were breaking up.

"It's not me," I said to my phone as if Dexter could hear me through it, "it's you." My finger went to press down on the send button when the screen changed and I had an incoming call from none other than the rowdyruff that had been plaguing my mind all night. And I swiftly answered.

"Brick?" I was surprised that he had called instead of just texting me.

There was a sniffle, surprising me even more because there was no way I'd gotten a call from a crying rowdyruff. Giving him some credit though, he pulled himself together enough to keep his voice steady. I wouldn't have guessed he was crying if it weren't for that slight sniffle. "Are you home?"

"Yeah," I hesitated, thinking about the effect of my next few words, "I wasn't planning on going anywhere for the rest of the day, why?"

"You said the Professor wouldn't mind if I came over, right? Do you think it'd be cool if I stopped by? I...I kinda got into a stupid argument with Mojo, so…" _I don't wanna go back home._ He didn't need to say it. I didn't know a whole lot about the situation between him and Mojo, but from what I could tell Brick didn't like him at all.

"The Professor isn't home for the weekend, he was invited to guest speak at some university out of town. But I'm sure he wouldn't care, or I just won't tell him."

That at least got Brick to chuckle a little bit. "Ok, I'm heading over now. Be there in like ten minutes."

It seemed like I was in for a lot this weekend because as soon as I hung up with Brick the doorbell rang, and it wasn't too hard to guess who that could've been. I'd ignored Dexter pretty much all last night while I was out with Brick and I hadn't texted him today, only having come to the decision to ask him to talk right before Brick called me.

Buttercup was hanging out with Robin and Bubbles had gone to the mall - though she suspiciously left out the detail of who she was going with. I had decided to stay home and contemplate the entirety of my life choices, something I was now regretting.

"You haven't answered any of my texts or calls." He was already hounding me with questions of if and why I was ignoring him before I'd even gotten the door fully opened.

I could almost barely get a word in. "I was just about to text you, but Brick called and he needed some help." I didn't want to divulge too much information to Dexter about why the red ruff had needed anything from me, it wasn't his business after all and it wasn't mine to be sharing with people.

"Are you fucking serious?" That's how I knew Dexter was really mad. _Cursing was for people with lesser intelligence who only used those words for filler because they couldn't conjure up something intellectual to say instead._ That was an actual sentence he had said to me once. He had cursed though, something he never did. "This is about Brick now, what you're too busy with him to talk to your boyfriend?"

"Calm down," his tone was starting to irritate me, maybe because I knew he wouldn't be my boyfriend very soon so he had no real reason to be acting this way, "god, my world doesn't come to a complete stop for you Dexter. I wasn't busy all day with Brick, he called me and we talked for like two minutes. I haven't texted you because I've been debating what to say to you."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

 _Just put on your big girl panties and get it over with, it's now or never Blossom._ "I...you're not _good_ for me, Dexter." His brows furrowed, as if the very notion of that statement were absurd. "The last couple of months actually have been confusing. I know I've said it before, and I know you've convinced me that you could fix things and that things would change, but they haven't and you haven't. So, when I say it this time, I mean it. I want-" I stopped myself, "I _need_ us to break up."

First, there came a lot of stammering, then I thought for just a split second he was gonna cry, and then there was a wave of anger that seemed to wash over him. "Is this about that _criminal_ , are you serious right now? You're gonna break up with me for _that_?"

For a split second I had to restrain myself from actually punching him in the face. Even after explicitly stating what was wrong in our relationship, Dexter reverts back to his usual tactics: blame it on any other outside influence he can and if all else fails blame it on me.

" _No_ , it has absolutely nothing to do with anyone other than you and I."

"You and me, Blossom."

" _Jesus, that's what I mean!_ " I'm sure my voice was thick with hostility, my eyes ablaze with pure anger. "We're in the middle of an argument about me wanting to end this relationship and you can't ignore that annoying little arrogant voice in your head telling you to correct me on my fucking grammar. You're judgmental, you put people down because you think being smarter than them makes you better, you're inconsiderate of any of my feelings, you only ever wanna do things that you find enjoyable and ignore or disregard every suggestion I have without even a discussion; you're a _terrible_ boyfriend, and I put up with it for the last few months thinking _I_ was the bad person for wanting to break up with you. And that's not fair, because I'm unhappy, and I've told you I was unhappy all the other times I talked about breaking up, and you did nothing to change that. I refuse to keep hating myself for wanting to be happy, and you don't make me happy Dexter, you haven't for a long time."

Tears were pouring down my face. I wasn't upset with the situation, it was bound to happen and I knew what I was walking into, but putting everything out into the open was starting to clear things up for myself. I'd blamed myself for being unhappy solely off the basis that he wasn't the world's worst boyfriend. But that wasn't my fault, I couldn't control how I felt. He, however, after many conversations and promises, could control his actions, but he'd chosen not to.

At the worst moment possible, a car pulled into the driveway. Brick's car. Dexter turned back to see it and scoffed. "Whatever, Blossom. If this is what you want. _Fucking bitch_." He'd said the last part under his breath as he walked back toward his car, but enhanced abilities meant I could hear it loud and clear. And so could Brick, who was now out of his jeep and rounding on Dexter.

"What did you just call her?" Brick's eyes were bloodshot, matching his irises and adding to the clear rage they held. His voice was menacing, and I was actually scared for Dexter in that moment. But I was also scared for the rowdyruff, because I knew what it was like to see red and have a hard time coming down from that; I was scared he was going to lash out and get himself into trouble if he didn't come down from his mania.

Dexter tried to keep a cool composure, probably hoping to make the ruff think he wasn't intimidated, but he was clearly shaken by Brick's tone of voice alone.

"What the _fuck_ did you just call her? He repeated, closing in on Dexter. "Why is she crying? What did you do, Poindexter? I swear to every holy fucking deity there is-"

"Brick, it's fine-"

"No, your _boyfriend_ shouldn't be talking to you like that-"

"He's not my boyfriend." All movement seemed to come to a stop, except for Dexter's eyes falling away from Brick's piercing glare. "Dexter was just leaving. Just come inside, Brick."

His jaw visibly clenched, but in the end he listened to me and left Dexter alone, roughly slamming his shoulder into the other boy's, causing the obviously weaker of the two to stumble back only to catch himself on the hood of his car. I didn't bother looking at Dexter afterwards, I had said what I needed to and so had he, as far as I was concerned that conversation was over. What was more important right now was the bleeding and angry rowdyruff who looked like he was about to cry out of either rage or misery or both.

"Are you ok?" I asked, my voice breaking, still raw from yelling earlier.

"No." His answer was immediate, no hesitation whatsoever. "You?"

So was mine. "I will be. Let's focus on you first."


	6. Chapter 6

**LOCATION: UTONIUM RESIDENCE**

 **TIME: 4:30 PM**

 **Brick's POV**

 _Let's focus on you first._ I didn't hear that a lot growing up with my brothers and Him. For the most part, I was the oldest growing up in a single parent home, so all the responsibility of a second parent was pretty much thrown on my shoulders. That meant dealing with everyone else's shit first and all my problems last, if at all. I didn't want to make Blossom feel that way either, she was exactly like me in that instance. But I also wanted to be selfish for a little while, I wanted to soak in that comfort and not worry about another person's problems for just one fucking minute, and Blossom seemed happy to give me that.

No one was home at the Utonium household, meaning no one was there to bother us as we lied in Blossom's room curled up on her bed. Despite the location, circumstances made the moment incredibly _not_ sexual. In fact, Blossom and I had pretty much traded off crying for the first half hour or so and then we'd fallen asleep for a little over 45 minutes which was rudely interrupted by my sudden need to pee. Now we found ourselves just laying there side by side, me playing with one of Blossom's hands.

Bloss was the first to talk. "You said you got into a fight with Mojo. Can I ask what it was about?"

I turned over so I could look at her while I spoke and leaned my head against one of my hands, keeping hers held in my other one. My fingers entwined and unraveled with hers over and over again met with brief interludes of our fingertips brushing against one anothers'. The words fell out of my mouth without hesitation, my mind finding no reason not to share every last detail with the powderpuff next to me.

"He was asking about you."

"Me?"

"Yeah."

"And that upset you?"

" _No_ ," I quickly began to clarify, "it was his prying that annoyed me. And then he started talking about how you would be a good influence on me and basically reminded me of how this town thinks of us as nothing but the shit beneath their feet, so…"

"That's not true," she tried to reason.

"C'mon red, let's not lie to each other. I've done some pretty shady things in my past, I grew up with two major criminals as parents, people expect my brothers and I to be assholes who go around committing crimes and kicking puppies."

"The past is exactly that. You're not some little shithead kid anymore, people will eventually go back to minding their own business."

 _How harshly would you judge me if the bad things I've done weren't that far in the past though? How bad is too bad for you, red?_

My jaw clenched as I thought about whether or not it was the best idea to tell Blossom anything about who I was in Citiesville. The stupid part of my brain insisted it wasn't that bad of an idea, that she would like me despite the worst parts of me.

"I'm not a good person, babe," I began down the path of possible self destruction, "part of me hates that Mojo was somewhat right. He didn't need to say it, but even he knows that at some point one of us, my brothers or I, is gonna blow up. And I'm afraid it's gonna be me." Her head laid back against the bed and her hand left mine, moving to play with the necklace hanging from my neck. My breathing grew shorter the closer she came to my neck, but I kept speaking. "Back in Citiesville, there was this kid. He spread some rumors about Butch taking steroids and it got around fast to a couple of the teachers. They were afraid that the Chemical X in his system would make the drugs wear off faster and make it harder to detect in a drug test. So for the next three months they would pull Butch out of class in front of everyone to make him take surprise drug tests, they put him on mandatory probation and banned him from playing on any of the sports teams for the rest of the year, and they did random searches through his locker and bag in front of everyone. They never found anything, because he wasn't on steroids of course - who the hell would even believe he had to take any when he had superpowers - but it ruined his rep. Any potential scouts had that information about the rumors divulged to them and so no one wanted to touch him, a bunch of our friends got pissed and ditched him because they thought his enhanced abilities were already considered cheating enough, and because he wasn't playing on the football team they had to put some freshman in to take his place and they lost the season so he somehow got blamed for that too. It ruined his entire year." I swallowed hard, flashbacks of the rest of the story coming back to me. "So, I did some digging and found out who the rumors originated from, I caught the kid alone walking in the parking lot one day, and I jumped him."

"You've always been a little more violent than-"

"I broke his jaw," I stopped her, "fractured his wrist, broke one of his ankles and an arm. They had to rush him into surgery because they were afraid one of his three broken ribs might've punctured a lung and they needed to stop the internal bleeding before it got any worse."

Blossom didn't have anything to say about that. _There it is. The silent judgment._

"The only reason his parents didn't sue or file a report was because he was too afraid to rat out who did it to him. And he wasn't the first or last person I'd beaten up, he was just one of the worse ones."

"Brick…" her voice was so small now. She'd stopped messing with my necklace. I waited for her to say something, anything else, but she didn't.

"I'm not a good person, Bloss. I've never claimed to be. But I've never hated myself more than right now, sitting here, telling you one of my many shitty mistakes." I leaned my forehead closer to hers until they were touching. _Please don't pull away._ "I lied to Mojo, I told him we hadn't committed any kind of crimes since we were younger, but the truth is...we've done so much bad shit, we just rarely got caught for it. Petty thievery here and there, small run ins with the cops catching us for loitering, but nothing big. But Citiesville is lenient with that kind of shit and here in Townsville they're not. I'm afraid that I'm gonna blow up one day and I'm gonna do something that makes you look at me like I'm the worst person in the world. I'm afraid of proving Mojo right, of disappointing Him, of putting my brothers in a position where they feel like they need to back me up and getting them into some kind of trouble. I'm afraid of losing control."

In a completely unanticipated twist of events Blossom, instead of turning away and kicking me out like I thought she would, wrapped her arms around me tightly and pulled my body down to meet hers. Every crevice, every inch of skin, pressed together. My head moved on its own accord and became buried in between her neck and shoulder. " _I'll help you, I'll help you,_ " she whispered over and over and over again, until I believed her. "You won't lose control."

"I almost murdered Poindexter for calling you a name." I pointed out, somewhat jokingly.

It worked, Blossom let out a light laugh and it made the conversation seem a little bit lighter for a minute. " _I_ almost murdered Poindexter for calling me a name. But I didn't, and neither did you. You were a bad person before with intentions that weren't entirely moral but also not hard to sympathize with. You get mad about people hurting the ones you love, you just act on it violently and we can work on that. You've done bad things, that doesn't make you a bad person, not if that's not who you want to be."

My arms tightened around her waist, wanting nothing more than to show her exactly how much her words meant to me. _If Blossom thinks I can be a good person, then there just has to be hope, right?_

"Is it ok if I stay here for the night?" I was surprised at my own question, following it up with a series of stutters, "I mean can I sleep on your floor? I-I wouldn't, like, bother you or anything, like I wouldn't try and pull something. Not that you're someone I wouldn't _try_ and pull something with, just- just not in the way it's being insinuated. _Jesus fuck_ ," I took a deep breath to calm myself down, "I just don't want to face Mojo or Him."

Blossom fucking _giggled_. "You can stay here for the night. I don't really wanna be alone anyways. Buttercup and Bubbles won't be home until late and I just went through a terrible breakup with my boyfriend of three years."

"Holy shit, you were with that asshole for three years?" She shook her head at my question. "Can I ask you something personal?"

"Go for it."

Our original position resumed, lying on our sides, hands intertwining, but this time my fingers found their way to her face every so often, tracing the outlines of her features. "Did you love him?"

"At the beginning maybe. Maybe not. Maybe it was just what I thought love was at that time." She didn't look me in the eyes. "I thought he was smart and sweet. And he was cute, and everyone said we'd look good together. Dexter and I, on paper, made a lot of sense. And then somewhere around year two something just changed. I noticed things more, how he acted toward others, how arrogant he actually was. I think I just became bored following in his shadow. I wanted something exciting," her eyes briefly flickered toward my own, "and nothing about him excited me."

 _I want to kiss you so bad right now_.

"He was so boring," she continued.

 _That's because he didn't know the right ways to please you._

"And predictable,"

 _He was so out of his league with someone like you, red._

"And he never cared about what I wanted, or noticed at least,"

 _I would notice. I do notice._

"This was a long time coming. I was just too scared to pull the trigger on it." That seemed hard for her to admit. "He was passionate about a lot of things, science, math, history; but he wasn't passionate about me, and that's all I ever wanted."

 _If you were mine, no one would hear the end of it._

"I like you, Brick," my eyes shot up to meet hers, not understanding in what way she meant it, but hoping, _hoping_ , "you might not like who you are, but I do. And if having all of the good parts of you means I have to take the worst parts as well, that's fine with me."

Scared shitless, I didn't make a single move as her lips brushed against my cheek, lingering for what could be considered an unreasonably long time. That fear of disappointing her grew even bigger after that. All that I wanted to say back got caught in my throat, so instead I whispered back, "I like you too, red."


End file.
